The bro comedy found a resurgence in the early 2000s thanks to the Frat pack and Paul Rudd. With a series of flicks trading leads and supporting actors, the genre felt a boom before it slowly faded away again. However, the genre had a legitimate hit inbound in Friendship, which not only stars Paul Rudd but adds Tim Robinson’s anachronistic humor to the fold. The marrying of the two styles creates a surprisingly powerful message about male bonding while also critiquing aspects of the genre. The resulting comedy is not only very funny, but absurd in the best ways.
Friendship — The Plot
Craig Waterman (Robinson) lives a boring life working for an app company that tries to increase its users’ addiction to their products. His wife Tami (Kate Mara) owns a floral shop, and recently survived a cancer scare. As the Waterman’s look to sell their home, a package from down the road is mistakenly dropped on their porch. Craig takes it down the road to their new neighbor Austin Carmichael (Rudd), a local weatherman who plays in a rock band. The two quickly bond over some obscure adventures and experiences. However, when a night out goes awry, Austin tries to end their relationship. Too invested in their time together, Craig tries everything to recreate their bond with those in his life.
Tim Robinson Changes the Bro Comedy Formula
The Tim Robinson experience is undeniably tied up in Friendship, and will frankly turn some viewers off. Robinson traffics in idiosyncrasies that make for perfect sketches, and director Andrew DeYoung finds a perfect way to extend that oddity into a feature length experience. By placing the story in a very real-world setting, DeYoung makes Robinson’s absurdities feel even further outside the norm. In many ways, Friendship then becomes a modern day What About Bob? or Cable Guy, as it ruminates on how outsiders attempt to recreate the male relationships they see in popular culture.
At the same time, Robinson’s yearning for literal friendship is in line with much of the discourse around men today. Finding people that are open to accept your quirks and weird jokes is nerve-wracking. It requires vulnerability that many do not have, and in Robinson’s case, leads his character down a path of destruction. It’s a classic story of seeking acceptance and ideal community, only to need it more when it’s denied to you. Friendship never lets the Craig character off the hook. If anything, he’s actively depicted as an uncaring and selfish man. However, it also opens the discourse around how parasocial relationships do not have to rely on celebrity, or even people from opposite sexes.
Friendship is Shot Like a Drama
DeYoung also makes an active choice to shoot Friendship in the same visual language as high-end dramas. Stylistically, it’s closer to Dream Scenario or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind than it is to I Love You Man or Forty-Year-Old Virgin. This alone sets Friendship apart from the studio comedy features you’d compare it to, and reminds us of the intensity felt by its lead characters.
Rudd gets to play in his goofy, “I’m the coolest guy in the room” persona when the vibes are good. However, he has multiple scenes throughout Friendship where his horror and genuine reactions are very visible. This adds a darker tone to Friendship as a whole, and while Rudd serves as the depiction of normalcy for DeYoung, it also plays on his decades in the genre.
It’s one thing to be a fun-loving guy in a series of wacky hijinks, but it’s another to feel genuine danger when your acquaintance takes the relationship more seriously than you’d expect. Being on the other side of that equation allows Rudd to flex more dramatic performance muscles in the context of a sinister story.
Is Friendship worth watching?
Anyone who likes I Think You Should Leave will be overjoyed to check out Robinson’s latest comedy. Rudd gets plenty of showcase moments as well. DeYoung builds a very funny comedy, and while there’s not much more than a series of vignettes to pull us along, the Robinson and Rudd dynamic is one you will not forget.
Friendship releases in theaters on May 9, 2025. A24 distributes.
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